Eventualities, Grammar, and Language Diversity

Abstract

Languages differ widely in what is put into their grammars. Typological studies must take this into account. In the realm of “eventology” I compare a number of North American languages from the point of view of showing how a basic and probably universal classification of events, processes, states can enter into the grammar of words and phrases in different ways. The principal exhibits are from languages in the two branches of Wakashan, which are typologically very similar in gross characteristics and whose differences are thus especially interesting for questions of language diversity. The discussion is set out against a background of issues revolving around language diversity.